Three workers dead, 11 others injured as scaffolding collapses at under-construction church near Katpadi

Three workers, including a father and son, were killed and 11 others injured after the scaffolding of an under-construction church at a village in Vellore district collapsed on Thursday (September 10, 2026).

The police said the deceased were identified as John 40, Samuel 67, and his son Immanuel alias Kutty, 32. All of them hailed from Bengaluru.

Six workers — Mariti, 29; Praveen Kumar, 40; Maish Vadhan, 42; Issac Newton, 61; Perumal, 45; and Ashok Kumar, 31 — were admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital near Vellore. “One person each was brought dead to the Vellore Government Hospital and Christian Medical College, Ranipet. One worker was found dead,” DHO M. Vijay Chandran told The Hindu.

Three other workers — Jones, 50, David, 50, and Rajesh, 30 — were admitted to Christian Medical College, Ranipet. Two others were shifted to a private hospital in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh.

The police said the CSI church had been under construction for the past few months at Manji Krishnapuram, around 10 km from Katpadi. Workers from surrounding villages and Bengaluru were brought in to build the church, which has a built-up area of 3,952 square feet.

The police said that as part of roof-laying on Thursday, steel scaffolding was erected at an height of 20 feet to allow 20 workers to work on the top of the structure. Around 3.45 p.m., the scaffolding collapsed. Workers were trapped in concrete mixture debris and scaffolding.

On information, the police from Tiruvalam and Katpadi rushed to the spot, along with firefighters from Vellore and Chittoor. Ten ambulances with two medical teams from the Sekkadu government health centre and the Vellore Government Hospital were also drafted.

The first batch of six workers was rescued around 5 p.m. Later, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams from Arakkonam joined the rescue operation, which was inspected by Vellore Collector P.S. Alex Leena and Ranipet SP P. Sibin. A case has been registered, and an investigation is under way.